Arthur Konnerth教授

Arthur Konnerth教授是国际著名神经科学家，德国国家科学院院士，毕业于慕尼黑大学医学院，并在马克斯·普朗克精神疾病研究所完成博士训练，获得医学博士学位。Konnerth教授先后在德国萨尔大学，慕尼黑工业大学和慕尼黑大学担任生理学讲席教授，2005年至2018年在慕尼黑工业大学担任Friedrich-Schiedel神经科学讲席教授和神经科学研究所所长，2018年起在慕尼黑工业大学被聘为Hertie基金会资深教授，曾获得马克斯·普朗克研究奖，莱布尼茨奖以及有“神经科学领域诺贝尔奖”之称的大脑研究奖等著名奖项。

Konnerth 教授致力于通过电生理，成像和细胞生物学等手段，研究学习和记忆等脑功能的基本过程。他开创了离体脑片膜片钳记录方法，并在神经突触传递和可塑性方面做出了重要发现，该手段成为近四十年来离体研究脑功能最重要的方法之一。近年来，他的团队通过持续的改进创新在体双光子成像技术，开发了在活体大脑中观察神经元活动的钙成像技术，将神经信号研究从传统的体外模型推进到活体大脑。在此之上，其团队进一步开发了高速高分辨率双光子钙成像方法，突破性地实现了在活体状态下对单个树突棘的功能研究，为理解突触输入与单个神经元特定功能的关系提供了重要技术手段。

利用双光子成像技术，他的团队率先发现了阿尔茨海默病中的神经网络功能障碍不仅仅表现为活动丧失，更与细胞的过度活跃有关。这一发现深刻改变了人们对阿尔茨海默病病理生理学的理解，并为解释阿尔茨海默病与癫痫的关联提供了新思路。通过精细的在体成像，进一步证实可溶性β淀粉样蛋白而非淀粉斑块本身是导致早期神经元过度活跃的关键因素。这些发现对阿尔茨海默病发病机制的认识具有重大意义，并为未来药物治疗提供了全新方向。

Prof. Arthur Konnerth is a world-renowned neuroscientist and a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He studied medicine at the University of Munich and earned his doctoral degree at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry. He has been a chair professor of physiology at Saarland University, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Munich. From 2005 to 2018, he was appointed the Friedrich-Schiedel Foundation Endowed Professor in Neuroscience and the director of the Institute of Neuroscience at the Technical University of Munich. In 2018, he was awarded the Hertie Foundation Senior Professorship at the Technical University of Munich. He has received the Max Planck Research Prize, the Leibniz Prize, and the Brain Prize (often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize of neuroscience’), among others.

Prof. Konnerth has devoted all his efforts to understanding basic brain functions, such as learning and memory, using various electrophysiological, imaging, and cellular methods. He pioneered patch-clamp recordings on the acute brain slice technique and made important findings on synaptic transmission and plasticity, which served as one of the most important preparations for in vitro investigations of brain function in the following four decades. Later on, his group focused on the technical development of two-photon microscopy and introduced a method for recording the activity of large neuronal ensembles in living brains, shifting the focus of neuronal signaling research from in vitro to intact living brains. On top of this, his group further developed high-speed, high-resolution two-photon calcium imaging, making it possible to investigate the function of single dendritic spines in vivo and to understand the relationship between synaptic inputs and the specific function of individual neurons.

Using two-photon microscopy, his team discovered for the first time that neural network dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease is not merely characterized by a loss of activity, but is also closely linked to cellular hyperactivity. This discovery has profoundly shifted the understanding of Alzheimer's pathophysiology and provided new insights into the connection between Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. Using precise in vivo imaging, the team further confirmed that soluble amyloid-beta proteins, rather than the amyloid plaques themselves, are the key driver of early neuronal hyperactivity. These findings are of great significance to our understanding of Alzheimer’s pathogenesis and offer a completely new direction for future pharmacological treatments.

代表文章：

1. Zott B, Simon MM, Hong W, Unger F, Chen-Engerer HJ, Frosch MP, Sakmann B, Walsh DM, Konnerth A (2019) A vicious cycle of amyloid β-dependent neuronal hyperactivation.Science 365, 559–565.

2. Grienberger C, Chen X, Konnerth A (2014) NMDA receptor-dependent multi-dendrite Ca²⁺spikes required for hippocampal burst firing in vivo.Neuron 81, 1274–1281.

3. Busche MA, Chen X, Henning HA, Reichwald J, Staufenbiel M, Sakmann B, Konnerth A (2012) Critical role of soluble amyloid-ß for early hippocampal hyperactivity in a mouse model of Alzheimer´s disease.Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 109, 8740-8745.

4. Chen X, Leischner U, Rochefort NL, Nelken I, Konnerth A (2011) Functional mapping of single spines in cortical neurons in vivo.Nature 475, 501-505.

5. Jia H, Rochefort N, Chen X, Konnerth A (2010) Dendritic organization of sensory input to cortical neurons in vivo.Nature464, 1307-1312.

6. Busche MA, Eichhoff G, Adelsberger H, Abramowski D, Wiederhold KH, Haass C, Staufenbiel M, Konnerth A, Garaschuk O (2008) Clusters of Hyperactive Neurons Near Amyloid Plaques in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease.Science 321, 1686-1689.

7. Stosiek C, Garaschuk O, Holthoff K, Konnerth A (2003) ‘In vivo’ two-photon calcium imaging of neuronal networks. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA100, 7319-7324.

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